Esade Alumni Aptissimi Award winners: José María Alonso Puig (CIAM), Iberdrola, Fundación Pro Bono España and Joaquín Guallar (Grupo Catalana Occidente)
The winners of the prestigious Esade Alumni Aptissimi Business Law Awards are José María Alonso Puig, president of Centro Internacional de Arbitraje de Madrid (CIAM), Iberdrola, Fundación Pro Bono España and Joaquín Guallar, legal-corporate managing director at GCO (Grupo Catalana Occidente). Aptissimi, Spain’s most prestigious business law awards held annually by the Esade Alumni Law Club and now in their 15th year, are an acknowledgement of achievements in four areas of business law: professional career, corporate counsel, contribution to the legal profession and society, and the outstanding legal career of a former Esade student.
The panel of judges for these awards consists of members of leading law firms, companies and entities working with Esade. This year’s Aptissimi award ceremony will take place today on November 30th, at Llotja de Mar in Barcelona. It is the most important event of the year for Spain’s corporate legal world and will be attended by some 300 representatives of leading law firms, corporate counsels, members of public authorities with links to the law profession, State lawyers, registrars and other foremost members of the profession.
Four categories
The winner of the outstanding career award is José María Alonso Puig, president of the Centro Internacional de Arbitraje de Madrid. The panel highlighted “his long career as an outstanding lawyer in the business world, dedicated to procedural law and arbitration”. In the course of his long career, he has held many posts of great responsibility, including his role as managing partner in prestigious law firms in Spain, his distinguished tenure as dean of the Madrid Bar Association, and his current position as president of the International Arbitration Center of Madrid. The jury also highlighted “his successful work in charge of different institutions of international prestige, and also his outstanding activities as a professor and proponent of arbitration issues."
The Esade Alumni Aptissimi Awards also have a category for the best corporate counsel, won this year by Iberdrola. The panel was particularly impressed by the “the multi-jurisdictional nature of this counsel, its working as a single team, the involvement of all members of the counsel and its commitment to delivering advice closely related to the business, like true business partners”. Likewise, it also highlights the counsel’s commitment to positioning itself as a benchmark in innovation, efficiency and digitalization, having created a permanent hub of legal innovation, and also its commitment to environmental and social issues, being the first in-house legal counsel to feature a pro bono program and sustainable legal advice. The panel also appreciated the well-rounded training of its legal professionals which combines great specialization in the core areas of the company’s business with operational excellence, and the incorporation of an innovative knowledge management system for creating and distributing legal knowledge amongst the members of the counsel. Internal leadership in resolving legal challenges and litigation, including complex transnational operations, was also highly valued, and likewise the determined commitment to diversity, flextime and work-life balance.
The winner of the award for the best contribution to the legal profession and society is Fundación Pro Bono España, Esade Alumni’s acknowledgement of the contributions made by professionals and entities to the development of business law, in the sense of a business sector. The jury considered Fundación Pro Bono España’s “outstanding contribution to the coordination and promotion of pro bono culture and work, strengthening the third sector by using the law as a transformative tool and multiplier of social impact.” A special mention was made of the foundation’s work as an intermediary between third-sector entities needing legal assistance and persons in the legal profession willing to provide it, and also its efforts to share legal knowledge, raise awareness amongst legal professionals about their function in society, and promote a well-structured, professional viewpoint of pro bono work. The jury emphasized that the foundation is “a cornerstone in fostering social change through the law, and through its efforts in facilitating access to justice for entities that could otherwise not access it, thus helping to strengthen the third sector.”
Finally, the Insignis Alumni award for former students of different programs at the Esade Law School who have forged outstanding careers in legal, academic, cultural, business and social spheres, went to Joaquín Guallar (Master in International Business Law ‘01), legal-corporate managing director at GCO (Grupo Catalana Occidente). The panel of judges was impressed by “his brilliant career as both a practicing lawyer in acclaimed Spanish and international law firms, and his achievements in corporate legal counsel,” and also highlighted “his prestigious career in the legal profession as a lawyer who has provided advice regarding many highly complex business operations.”
Esade Alumni Aptissimi Awards
Previous winners of Aptissimi awards include the acclaimed lawyers Miquel Roca Junyent, Rodrigo Uría, Fernando Pombo, José Pedro Pérez-Llorca and Gaspar Ariño; the international academics Christian Armbrüster, Barry E. Carter and David B. Wilkins; outstanding legal counsels at Aena, Abertis, Inditex, Ferrovial, CaixaBank, Telefónica España, Acciona and Grupo MásMóvil; and highly respected institutions including CNMV, Abogacía General del Estado, International Chamber of Commerce, EU Court of Justice, the International Bar Association, and CNMC, to name but a few.
The sponsors of this 15th edition of the awards are: Baker & McKenzie Abogados, BDO Abogados, Clifford Chance Abogados, Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira, SLP, Deloitte Legal, EY, Garrigues, Abogados y Asesores Tributarios, Gómez-Acebo & Pombo Abogados, SLP, KPMG, Osborne Clarke, Pedrosa Lagos, Pérez-Llorca, Roca Junyent, SLP, Rousaud Costas Durán Abogados, Uría Menéndez, SLP, VIALEGIS, AGM Abogados, Allen & Overy, Anzizu, López & Castellanos, Broseta, Cadama Legal, CMS Albiñana Suárez de Lezo, Crowe, Dentons, Fieldfisher, PwC Tax & Legal y Santiago Mediano.
